This is the eleventh year of the always popular, engaging, and informative Berkeley Anarchist
Students of Theory And Research& Development conference.
Every year we try to break up the monotony of the the workshop format by putting a twist into 8 hours of speeches and workshops.
Our latest attempt at this are the Open Space Threads (OST), a way to bring anarchist theorizing away from the people at the front of the room and back into the room itself.
This is the third year where the OST will be part of the BASTARD conference.
We believe anarchist theory should be transparent, ecstatic, and informed.

Every year BASTARD presenters have fascinating things to say but up til now we have not shared these things with non-attendees. So this year we are asking presenters if they are willing to have their presentations recorded (in audio). Our hope is to collect and freely share these presentations. We also hope to start work on a publication of the results of these recordings later in the year (perhaps as a pamphlet, since this year’s topics are especially exciting).

This year’s theme – developing an anarchist theory of everything

Track 1: Capitalism
Our lives are dominated by exchange relationships and when we finally wake up and attempt to understand this phenomena the only tools that are available are from Marxists. For many, this is enough. For us, it is not. We hope to explore this and perhaps begin to talk about where an anarchist theory of capitalism would begin.

Track 2: Space

If radicals in the twentieth century were captivated by the strategy of organizing in the workplace it isn’t outrageous to believe the 21st century will be equally focused on location. We will fight where we stand and there is a lot to develop if we are going to do it right.

Track 3: Identity

Threaded through any work we do are questions about who we are. These are existential and
semiotic. Questions forged in violence and structures of control, history and experience. An
anarchist theory of identity requires an understanding of these things and more. We hope
for experienced, sophisticated approaches on the issue.

Come join us at UC Berkeley on March 14th and begin a collaboration on anarchist theory. As always, we do also accept workshops on @ theory that are outside the theme.